


Of Nightmares and Neurotransmitters

by storm_of_sharp_things



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Sunflowers, Team Dynamics, bad dream, naps, no really it’s just fluff and sweetness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26564245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_of_sharp_things/pseuds/storm_of_sharp_things
Summary: A dream goes askew and the team needs a nap. Yep. That’s pretty much it.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 25
Collections: InceptGen





	Of Nightmares and Neurotransmitters

“Oh god,” Ariadne mumbled, rolling over on the floor to curl into a ball. “ _That_ was so far from right...”

Eames was blinking at the ceiling. “Why was there _elevator music?”_

“I’m going to shoot him.” Grey-faced, Arthur scrabbled for his gun, missing the grip and cursing.

It gave Dom enough time to pull the point man away from the still-unconscious mark. “Save it,” he advised. “Save it for our client who didn’t tell us that Chuck here was prone to psychosis.”

Arthur paused, then nodded. He shuddered hard and pushed himself to his knees, reaching for Yusuf’s hand to steady him.

“What the hell happened in there?” their chemist demanded. “Chuck’s blood pressure went through the roof so I kicked you.”

Eames put a hand on Arthur’s shoulder and Ariadne crawled over to hug him. “Well...” the forger hedged.

“Arthur got attacked by an entire field of evil sunflowers,” Ariadne said quickly, hiding her face against Arthur’s shirt.

“Evil _mutated_ sunflowers,” Dom muttered, staggering to his feet.

“No more,” Eames snapped as Arthur went glassy-eyed.

Yusuf gave him a horrified look. “Er, right, look, um...” he dug around in his bag and offered Arthur a pill. Arthur downed it dry without even asking what it was and Yusuf gaped for a moment. “Right. I’ll get Chuck there back to his car in the car park before he wakes.”

Dom nodded. “We’ll get Arthur to the safe house. Meet us there.”

When Yusuf arrived, Arthur was pacing unsteadily and talking to Dom who was typing on Arthur’s laptop. Ariadne was following him back and forth and pleading for him to sit down every time he wobbled.

“...and that should issue a freeze on all his financial accounts,” Arthur finally finished, lurching to a halt.

Eames rose from his chair and picked Arthur up like a mannequin, dropping him onto the massive king bed they’d joked about on arrival. “Excellent work, Arthur, now go the bloody hell to sleep. I don’t know how you’re even lucid after one of Yusuf’s specialties.”

Yusuf was scowling in mixed astonishment and worry. “I don’t know either, but the delay might cause...adverse effects.” He held up his hands defensively as everyone in the room turned to stare at him. “I didn’t expect him to try to power through the sleepiness!”

“Okay, _that_ was stupid of you,” Dom muttered and Ariadne snickered in spite of herself.

Arthur braced himself up on his elbows, having trouble focusing. “ _What_ adverse effects, Yusuf?” he slurred.

“Er...nightmares?”

“You what?” demanded Eames.

“Well if he’d just drifted off as intended, he wouldn’t have any trouble with the unanchored sensation the drug causes! It’s meant to be a pleasant floaty feeling, but now...er, sorry?”

Arthur blinked too slowly. “Where’s my gun?”

“Not within reach,” Eames replied. “Okay, unanchored. Floaty. Right. Everyone on the bed.”

Ariadne lit up. “Brilliant! Naptime for everyone!”

“...what?” Arthur frowned in confusion.

“Yes!” Yusuf exclaimed in relief. “That’s perfect! Physically anchoring him and providing a sense of protection from outside forces! Like an armed weighted blanket.”

Don shrugged. “Well, I’m exhausted anyway. A nap sounds like a great idea.”

Arthur protested weakly as they pushed him back to lay flat on the bed and took his shoes off, but settled almost instantly as they arranged themselves around him. Yusuf sat, cross-legged, with his back to the headboard and his tablet in his lap, and draped one of Arthur’s wrists against his bare ankle. 

“Monitoring his pulse,” he said in response to Dom’s eyebrow.

“Ooooh, smart,” Ariadne yawned, and settled down on one side of Arthur. Dom took the other side and Eames stretched out along the edge of the bed facing the door.

Arthur exhaled heavily and let his eyes slide closed, relaxing almost immediately into a deep sleep.

“Idiot,” Yusuf whispered with a faint smile, amused by the murmurs of agreement from all quadrants of the bed before they all settled into patterns of quiet breathing. When Dom started to snore, Yusuf rolled his eyes and nudged him onto his side. Eames settled backside to backside with Ariadne and Yusuf fought down a giggle as they negotiated for position in their sleep by a slow wriggling back and forth until they were both satisfied with the complementary arrangement of their spines.

Arthur lay in the middle looking deceptively angelic the way he only ever did in sleep, his eyes relaxed and his mouth faintly curved, and Yusuf felt a ridiculous surge of affection for them all. There were worse teams, and far worse professions.

He shook his head and lifted his tablet. He still needed to submit a scathing review of Chatrell’s latest paper on neurocognitive development under therapeutic dreamsharing stimulation using Banerjee’s experimental formulation of Somnacin to affect the gamma-aminobutyric acid neurotransmitters, and the moronic ivory tower researchers just wouldn’t see the value of practical experience in the field. He’d like to see _them_ deal with Arthur as an experimental subject...

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Cauchemars & Rêveries](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217234) by [AQuietThinker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AQuietThinker/pseuds/AQuietThinker)




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